[Starhawk]

2445.7 The growing darkness
“In dark times sometimes dark deeds are necessary for the salvation of all.”
Praetanii Elizabeth I just before a nuclear bomb detonated over Berlin and ended the Nazi Rebellion.

Admiral William Jefferson Ross was still rubbing the sleep from his eyes as his cutter began the twenty minute flight from his flagship to the Imperial Palace on New Icara; the summons had come at 0430 ship time when four Praetor’s Own guardsmen came aboard with an Imperial messenger. Ross had been woken up allowed only enough time to dress in full dress mess uniform, alert Commodore Fujita to meet him in the boat bay and get aboard the cutter that had taken the Praetorians and the Messenger to collect him.
Needless to say Ross was confused as to what could be so important that the Praetor would send four of his personal bodyguards-who could kill the entire 5,000 marine detachment aboard Ross’ own flagship-and an Imperial messenger to summon him and his second in command at such an early hour.
The Imperial messenger and the Praetorians came with Ross and Fujita for the fifteen minute flight and made Ross even more uncomfortable since none of the five Imperial representatives had said anything since the messenger passed the summons to Ross.
As the cutter passed over the Imperial capital Ross noticed absent mindedly that the cutter’s targeting alert was already sounding as dozens of weapons emplacements sighted on the small craft and at least two squadrons of Atmospheric fighters began scanning them.

Far below Ross finally saw the Imperial palace, the bright “sunlight” of the artificial morning gleaming off of the white stone buildings that made up the palace, acre upon acre of administrative buildings, barracks, apartments, vehicle parks, gardens, pools, a small lake, and landing strips were visible from altitude but it was not these that truly caught Ross’ attention it was the massive domed building at the center of all this, gleaming golden domes and spires of the palace its self shown brightly in the light of morning. In the midst of all these buildings the Icaran Admiral could just barely make out thousands of people moving about their daily business, also visible were thousands of red and gold clad figures, the soldiers of the Praetorian regiment, also visible were several APCs and tanks moving along the streets or keeping the perimeter secured. Ross could hardly believe the amount of firepower that was visible from this altitude; as he turned to Rukia to comment on this fact Ross tensed as the cutter made a sudden sharp descent toward the nearest landing strip.

Once the cutter touched down the Imperial messenger smiled –more a wicked grin then a smile- and gestured that Ross and Fujita should follow him and the Praetorians through the hatch. Once outside the cutter Ross noticed for the first time that several other cutters had touched down, each with Admirals, Generals, Commodores, Colonels and Praetorians stepping off of them. He didn’t know why they would call together what appeared to be the entire Flag-staff of the mobile forces to the Imperial Palace rather then the thousand click plus military base on the other side of the sphereworld.

“What’s going on Messenger?” Ross asked in as commanding a tone as he could manage through his tired confusion.
“The mobile forces commanders are being called together Admiral, that’s all I have been permitted to tell you.” The messenger said, completely unflustered by the way the Admiral was talking to him.
Ross turned to Fujita who simply shrugged and went to join the small cluster of staff officers that was forming between the cutters. After a moment of pure irritation William couldn’t help but grin, he mimicked Rukia’s shrug and walked over to join the other staff officers.

Several minutes passed before a small fleet of ground effect cars carried the gathered flag officers to a small corner of the palace which was surrounded by at least five companies of Praetorians with a tank platoon mobilized at the outer most perimeter. As the ground effect cars approached the building a massive door silently slid open allowing the cars to enter, inside what had appeared on the outside to be a small building there was actually a small roadway leading down deep beneath the surface of the sphereworld. A vast dome complex of hardened blastcrete and battle steel waited at the other end of the road and Ross for the first time in his life suddenly felt quite claustrophobic as the tunnel that surrounded the road way went from the transparent lidrium walls to the darkness of a blastcrete tube.

Not much was said on the short drive but once the car came to a halt and the doors opened to let William and Rukia out the Admiral stretched in the almost perfect “sunlight” and took in a deep breath finally feeling the claustrophobia beginning to pass.
Rukia gently nudged the Admiral with her elbow and smirked at his quizzical look.
“Look around sir……doesn’t it look familiar?” Her voice held a mixture of amusement and awe as she looked around her.
“Damn, it’s a battlemoon’s boat bay, except with artificial sunlight generators.” Ross noticed that the other officers in the vast “cave” of the battlemoon class boat bay were looking around in equal awe, any spacer knew that a ship’s light gave off only enough sun like qualities to keep a human healthy beyond that ship’s lights were dim and clearly artificial; sunlight generators on the other hand were massively expensive and only ever used on colony ships and some passenger liners, the presence of these generators suggested at the very least that they were not on an official naval battlemoon.

The Praetorians led the officers through the boat bay to the lift and finally to a huge room patterned exactly after the briefing room of one of the new Valiant Warrior class battlemoons that were still under construction. The officers took their seats and waited, a few muttering to one another others quiet.

Even as Ross took his seat he looked around for Lin, he had been seeing a lot more of her lately then he was used to, which he found to be the only good thing about the whole battle strength of the Navy being pulled back to home system, they had spent a few days with one another here and there over the past few months, she had been given command of Third fleet though so much of her time was spent scraping together a new command team for the massive “purifier class” fleet that she had been given.

Ross had been both happy and anxious over Lin’s new assignment, happy in that she was finally getting a line command which was something she had wanted for years, though it was an honor to command Home Fleet most “fighting admirals” like Lin wanted to get into action that you otherwise would hopefully avoid in command of the Home Fleet.
Even while he was overjoyed about her being given the command of her dreams he was terrified because commanding a line fleet meant going into battle against real enemies that would be trying to kill her…..something William found himself trying to forget as he saw Lin step into the briefing room with two of her aides, a Commodore Lia Tarmen and Commodore Gerald Patrick McDoogan whom she usually referred to as “Macky” when she and William were alone.

Chapter Two:

Five minutes had passed and still there was no word of what was going on, William turned from watching Lin to glance at Rukia and just as he was about to comment on the oddness of it all the light in the room dimmed and a commanding voice rang out “All rise!” a second passed where the room was in shock but slowly they all rose and stood at parade ground attention.
A door slid open silently and six massive figures stepped through and formed two lines on either side of the door, their distinctive gold and red power armor and long multi-purpose rifles showing them to be Praetorians, each one’s armor, weapons and training as expensive as an old frigate like the original Saber.
An instant later another figure came through the door, he was a tall man and powerfully built even for an Icaran, he wore a magnificent uniform similar to that worn by naval flag officers, except for its golden lace and braids, among other features that made it stand out as expensive, one such feature less noticeable unless you knew what to look for was a void shield generator in the belt and impact armor built into the tunic.
“My God it’s him….” Someone whispered a little louder then they meant to, it took William and most of the others a moment to register what was going on but once they did the entire gathered group of officers snapped salutes, and bowed at the waist. It was the first time most of them were seeing the Praetor himself, the ruler of the 700 plus billion humans of the Icaran Empire.

Praetor Rodric had grown from a shy yet confident young man to a mature, charismatic and brilliant leader in his decades of service as Praetor since his father’s tragic death when treachery destroyed the whole star system that he was touring. Rodric the second had in fact become the new shining hero of the Icaran Empire, revered and respected by almost everyone, he brought peace within the Empire’s core worlds, he was reorganizing the Federal Security forces to deal with the fringe worlds that even now rioted against the beacon of civilization and culture. Under Praetor Rodric the second the Empire had grown farther and faster then his father or any other Praetor in history could ever have imagined and because of this and his numerous other accomplishments Praetor Rodric was perhaps the most important single person in the galaxy.

“Ladies and gentlemen” Rodric spoke softly but confidently his voice a deep rumble of command, and his eyes deep and bright with thought. When he spoke the entire room fell so silent it was as if you could hear the very breath of a grasshopper.
“I have been lax in my duties of meeting with you all of late, in fact for far too long I have been a distant observer of the military, a voice hidden behind a curtain, I want to change that.” He made a sweeping gesture that encompassed the whole room “I want to be a Praetor who shows my respect for the military, not just a man who uses it as a tool when it suites him……that is why I have summoned you all here today so that I personally may brief you on perhaps the single largest threat posed to our Empire today.” Rodric paused again and tabbed a control on his wrist, the lights dimmed and a massive hologram materialized above the gathered crowd of Naval, Army, Marine, and FedSec officers. The hologram was of a world that looked much like any other barren dust ball with no atmosphere, dust storms visible from high atmosphere pocked the surface as did craters, and dried up rivers and oceans. For a moment the audience sat silently, many Officers trying to guess at which world this was.
“Ladies and gentlemen this is a world the Bureau of Stellar Mapping has designated CX 552, it is totally uninhabitable but it is in fact one of the most important worlds that has come to our attention these past few months.” Rodric’s tone was grim and William felt himself sit just a bit further on the edge of his seat then could be considered “proper” for a fleet officer, but the amount of concern in his Praetor’s voice made the Admiral uneasy to say the least.

The hologram shifted a little bit as if the camera taking the image was in motion, which in fact it was as Rodric continued to explain “The image you are seeing is from the FedSec:space Peacekeeper class ship Shimata Kieko, she was sent with two full companies of FedSec:ground troopers to investigate and neutralize a reported Terran Cult that was hiding in the wasted ruins of this world.” Rodric paused the holo for a moment and turned to the assembled audience again “That’s right people the Cult that worships the so called “goddess terra” is very much alive, unfortunately it seems that Admiral Yu Lin Ross was deceived when she eliminated the one sect, not her fault obviously the priest that fooled her fooled us all.” Rodric made a dismissive gesture as if it was something not worth mentioning again “Unfortunately however he appears not to have been the leader of the cult, or for that matter even the leader of the cult on that world…..Admiral Yu executed the real leader while he disguised himself as a mere underling.” The Praetor continued to stand perfectly straight and confident as he had since the beginning of the briefing but the look in his eyes showed some slight anxiety.

“I dispatched the Shimata to this world with two full companies of FedSec:ground troopers, fully expecting to capture or kill the three thousand some odd cultists our earlier probes had discovered in hiding. Unfortunately what happened was quite different then what I had planned, and I am ashamed to say I may have placed further worlds in danger through my actions.” There was a general murmur of disbelief and denial that it was the Praetor’s fault but he raised his hands for silence and continued in the same level tone “It is my fault and there is no point denying it…..so please let me continue.” His hands went from a gesture commanding silence to an almost prayerful position in front of him as he tapped some controls on his wrist and the holo began moving again, this time with Audio.

“This is FNS Shimata Kieko on approach to target world CX 552 Captain Liam Grayson commanding FedSec:space element.” The voice off screen was higher pitched then William would have expected from a commanding officer of any armed spacecraft but the tone conveyed enough of the man’s confidence and competence that Ross couldn’t help but feel a little guilty at his brief moment of amusement at the man’s voice.
“We are preparing to drop Companies 112 and 503 in five minutes and take stationary orbit to prevent any private ships from escaping, intent is to board or destroy said ships.” Captain Grayson was obviously intending to make sure that Command knew everything he did as Federal Security didn’t have as much leeway as the Navy or Army did when it came to pacifying a world, which meant if he had to rain fire on that world he’d better damn well prove he had to or else his career would come to a screaming halt.

Once the dropships deployed the holo switched from a camera aboard the starship to the helmet cam of an officer, the first sight was of blood red dust and sand everywhere for miles in every direction that camera looked.
“This is the view from Colonel Abraham Ben-Judah of the Hebron colony.” Rodric said quietly as the holo continued to play above them. It was obvious enough that the Colonel was riding in a FedSec:ground APC as the turret was just visible underneath him, dozens of FedSec troopers were moving around beside and in front of the APC in a protective formation, their brown impact armor standing out against the blood red sand and dust blowing all around them.
“This is Alpha group to Command we are at the entry point to the Cultist stronghold….its too small for an APC, recommend APC and Infantry perimeter while my team moves in.” the voice was identified as that of Major Thompson in the hologram.
“Alright Major, all units form a perimeter around the sight while Alpha Group moves in.” Colonel Ben-Judah said calmly over the command channel, a moment passed and the APC the Colonel was riding in began moving again just before the screen went black for a second.

As the holo came back to life several FedSec:ground troopers came into sight, this time it was obviously at eye level so the feed was either from Major Thompson or one of the other troopers in his squad.
“Alright Rendowe blow the door, the rest of you…on me.” The Major said as he moved his team back from the barely visible blast door as the trooper called Rendowe placed a demolition charge that would create a shaped explosion nearly half a kiloton in yield.
After Rendowe came back a brilliant flash lit the holo, making everyone in the massive auditorium squint against the flare; the screen cleared quickly and when it did it became a blur of fast movement as Thompson led the twenty troopers of his entry team forward while the other thirty formed a tight perimeter around the entry.
Several minutes of inaction followed as the Major and his troopers cautiously cleared the massive first rooms of the Cult stronghold.
“Alright we’re coming up on an intersection, keep your eyes peeled and your heads down….Sergeant Gear get your…..oh [censored]!” the Major’s voice suddenly went tense as a few barely visible flashes came out of the darkness; a split second later and you could hear the whine and crack as darts slammed into the walls.
“Open fire, take them out!” Major Thompson shouted as he fired his own assault rifle down the dark corridor.
The firefight continued to rise in intensity as the FedSec troopers returned fire on their attackers, it was obvious by the noise alone that the FedSec troopers were dealing with their attackers fairly easily, the Holo just confirmed it as silence suddenly replaced the noise of gunfire. Major Thompson quickly looked over his troopers, one was down in the corner obviously dead and another two were only mildly wounded and were already getting back off the floor and on the line. Their attackers were not so fortunate, armed with civilian light darters that were mostly unable to pierce the full body impact armor of FedSec much less army or marine troops, most of the cultists were torn to shreds by the solid shot darts the FedSec troopers had been using, others lay silent with small clean holes all over their bodies as darts passed through their comrades and lodged in them.
“Alright we’re clear here….move on.” The Major said, still breathing normally and relaxed as he looked over what had to have been at least fifty cultist corpses before moving on.

For the first twenty minutes things had gone well, Alpha group was taking care of what pockets of resistance they came across and the perimeter up top had cleared out two small groups of Cultists who had somehow escaped the main compound. It wasn’t until the Alpha group reached a vast cathedral like room with the statue of a woman holding a globe in her left hand and a spear in her right did things start going badly.
“I think we’re in their center of worship, that’s probably their goddess Terra, I don’t see any life signs in here but stay frosty.” The Major looked around and the Holo moved with the motion of his head, the light from the trooper’s rifles was all that there was in the room and it wasn’t totally a surprise when a scream alerted the Major of a cultist ambush.
How they had hid from life signs detectors was anyone’s guess but seemingly out of nowhere dozens of cultists of all ages came screaming out of their hiding places, some wielding axes and daggers, others darters or their bare hands.
A man wielding a large axe managed to get the drop on a FedSec trooper in front of the Major, fortunately the trooper’s armor was able to prevent a killing blow but the trooper went down heavily, probably with a broken back. The Major fired a quick burst of darts into the big old man, sending him to the floor in a bloody heap.
It was only after a few seconds that the major noticed something else was moving in the room, slowly working its way through the cultists; who seemed to part before it like the old legends of the parting of the red sea. The holo blurred as the Major whirled around and opened fire on the figure, the ear splitting noise of darts ricocheting off armor split the air as the major and several other FedSec troopers opened up on it.
With an almost relaxed gesture the figure raised a long rifle and sprayed several troopers of Alpha group with high velocity darts that tore through their impact armor with terrifying ease shredding the troopers. An instant later the figure activated a thrust pack and leapt high into the air coming down in the midst of a group of FedSec troopers who never even had a chance to turn to face their attacker, it had drawn a monomolecular sword from it’s sheath and cut down the troopers it had landed between, body parts severed with startling ease and the screams of the wounded and dying came with terrifying clarity over the holo, the screaming didn’t last long however as the M-sword sliced through armor and flesh with terrible swiftness.
Only a moment later and the holo went black as the massive figure landed right in front of the Major and made a sweeping gesture with the M-sword probably severing the Major’s head.

The com came to life only a few seconds later as the armored figure attacked the troopers of Alpha group that had formed the perimeter around the main entrance and hundreds of cultists streamed out of hidden hatches around the perimeter attacking troopers and armored vehicles all along the perimeter.
“God we can’t stop him….sir we can’t…..” a scream interrupted the sentence followed by the sound of a heavy darter whining and more screams.
The holo showed the view from the Colonels APC again except this time the red dust and sand came to life with flashes and color and the troopers in front of the APC were firing their rifles into the dust storm and the APC’s own energy cannons were firing into the distance.
One of the troopers in view suddenly went down in a spray of blood and gore as heavy darts tore a hole through the trooper’s torso. There were explosions visible through the dust storm as well as the menacing light in the background that signified heavy energy weapons being fired.
Another APC pulled into view of the Colonel’s firing it’s energy cannons and bringing it’s squad of troopers up to the fight, suddenly out of the dust the massive armored figure appeared, it’s long rifle coming to bare on the second vehicle, an emerald green beam lanced out with an incredible whine and tore a neat hole through one side of the APC and out the other, it took a split second for the vehicle to actually explode and in that split second the armored figure was already amongst the FedSec squad that had just disembarked, it’s M-sword tearing through impact armor and flesh with ease, it’s long rifle now firing heavy darts again, tearing troopers to pieces at such close range.
A rocket tore through the sky and the armored figure reacted with blinding speed firing a burst of explosive shells in the rocket’s path destroying it several meters short.
An instant later the figure aimed its long rifle towards the Colonel’s APC and a flash of green made the holo go dark again.
The holo view switched to close in orbital and it was obvious from the zoomed in image that the FedSec:ground forces were being torn apart, the armored figure was cutting a swathe through the APCs and their guard squads, while the cultists were launching massive human wave attacks at point blank range against the FedSec troopers, some coming out of hatches close enough to troopers to use axes and daggers to batter the FedSec personnel to death.
Shock was on the face of everyone in the room, it was replaced an instant later with sheer terror as the com from the Semata began playing.
“We’ve got a hull breach on deck seven….security reports….we’ve got boarders!” a voice said in shock.
“Get whatever FS:ground troopers we have left down there now, order all personnel to arm and armor themselves to repel boarders…..and find out how the [censored] they got on my ship!?” The Captain was obviously furious, but at least had the presence of mind to switch the holoview to internal security cameras.

The images were startling to say the least, a single armored figure equipped with a long rifle and M-sword being followed by about two dozen cultists were making their way through the corridors, a squad of Fedsec:ground troopers that had met them in the corridor was turned to a cloud of gore and blood as the armored figure fired a violet energy beam through them. Crewmembers and other ground personnel that set up ambushes managed to kill all of the cultists in the first few minutes of battle, but that armored figure simply wouldn’t go down to the darters of any of the fedsec personnel, some brave or foolish souls had actually managed to get close enough that they were forced to try using stun battons….with no effect except getting the trooper sliced apart by the M-sword or simply shattered into blood and pulp by an armored fist.
After barely ten minutes of action the ship’s speakers were blaring the surrender order and the armored figure now began methodically rounding up surrendering crew and taking them to the flight bay, where it proceeded to cuff them and sit them against crates or ships, the last image was that of the Captain being taken to the boat bay, his left arm missing and his right leg obviously broken in multiple places.

As the holo image vanished and the lights came back up Praetor Rodric cleared his throat loud enough to draw attention and silence the few officers that were muttering in shock and disbelief. “Ladies and gentlemen, you probably don’t recognize that powered armor, or the long rifle, unfortunately that is because under my orders NavInt has kept these particular soldiers covered up for morale reasons.” The praetor shrugged and frowned “They are the Mobile Infantry Rangers, the elite shock troops of the Citizen Federation’s ground forces.” The Praetor paused as shocked and sickened officers tried to collect their nerves. “Yes ladies and gentlemen I said Citizen Federation, our supposed allies have secretly sent two of their deadliest soldiers into our Empire to aid the Terran cultists establish military capabilities and fight against us.” The Praetor suddenly looked as if he was staring off into some distant chasm; when he spoke again his tone had changed to a quiet almost penitent shadow of the proud booming voice Icarans were used to hearing from Rodric “It is my fault they have done this, I allowed warp points into the Federation to remain open because I allowed myself to trust these people, all the while it would seem they have been filtering munitions, funds, and now even elite soldiers to insurrectionists that would tear our very empire apart…..our best scientists now tell me the Federation has somehow manipulated the warp in several of our systems, new warp points are forming even now that lead to territories within the Mantisoran United Kingdom, the Neo Star Empire, and the Citizen Federation its self” A general murmur of disbelief ran through the gathered officers, to the Icaran public the warp points to outside of the Empire had been closed, or were now guarded by massive fortresses, no one knew that the Federation had been allowed to enter the Empire, and no one knew where those warp points were….except for Praetor Rodric and a few of his staff members, as well as certain corporations who were trying to get their hands on certain Federation technologies.

“Why do we not simply close these warp points highness….that is when they open?” Admiral Lady Selene Powel, commander of Home Fleet spoke up first, immediately drawing the attention of every eye in the room.

“Good question Admiral Lady, the answer is that the Science Ministry believes that to do so would permanently destroy the connections to warp space within those systems, when I say that the Federation has manipulated the warp I mean they have not simply opened or closed a point within the warp, somehow they are opening a tear within the warp that leads to the systems they have targeted.” Rodric’s voice held no contempt or shock at an underling speaking to him, merely a matter of fact almost lecturing voice.

“Do we know why the Citizen Federation is doing this Highness?” Commandant of the Marines Harris spoke this time, unlike Lady Powel the Marine held no noble titles and so by ancient custom would have been forbidden to speak unless spoken too, but at the moment the sturdy Marine didn’t even flinch as more then one Praetorian Guard glanced his way.

“No, we do not, but we do know how.” Rodric paused a moment, always a fan of theatre he allowed the drama to build for just a second before speaking “The Admiralty and Shadow Daggers have known for some time that the Citizen Federation has set about altering the genetic structure of about a fifth of a percent of their population to allow a dormant genome responsible for telepathic and telekinetic abilities to re-assert its self within the population that carries it, they have been using these people and a set of technologies we don’t fully understand for years to power the weapons systems on their starships…..it would appear they are also manipulating the warp somehow” Rodric grimaced; the Icaran Empire had allowed the genetic therapies responsible for the Sustain treatments and for curing of diseases for over a century, but it was strictly forbidden by Icaran Law, and the faith of the Path to manipulate human genetics for the purposes of “improving” the species., even Sustain had come under fire in the early days because of the fact that it doubled human reflexes and senses, not to mention the centuries of life it added to the average human being; so now to learn of the deliberate creation of mutants by an ally was a bit of a collective shock to the Icaran officers gathered.

“Yes, we have known and done nothing; that is because we were afraid of what we knew would have to do should war come between us and the Federation.” Rodric’s voice fell once again, this time to a mournful tone “They have drawn first blood ladies and gentlemen, I do not relish the order I must give but we have no choice but to retaliate with overwhelming and crushing force and destroy their ability to sustain a fight, and so ladies and gentlemen I will leave this briefing up to Lord Marshall Valerie as this is his plan of operations.” The Praetor stepped aside and the massive screen behind him came to life, the man on the screen wore a uniform that was a mix of styles from the Icaran military, including an old fashioned metal breastplate the likes of which hadn’t been worn by soldiers in millennia.
“Lord Marshall, the Count Pacifica, Heir to Lacerta Duke of the Empire Martin Shieldstorm.” A voice intoned; the man on the screen bowed and looked out upon the gathered officers, by all rights he was the highest military authority within the Empire besides the Praetor himself, this man could order the Grand Admiral to lick his boot if he was so inclined and to see him giving a briefing meant something major was going to happen.
“Admirals, Generals, Soldiers of Icara through various intelligence sources we now know that the main staging area and breeding area of these Psychic mutants is the Tammuz-An star system, there are just over two billion psychics in system, two billion potential weapons for our enemies.” Shieldstorm clenched his fist as he continued to speak “It is because they are weapons that I have made the difficult decision to cleanse Tammuz-An……to totally and completely destroy ALL traces of life within that star system and in so doing destroy the Federaton’s psychic population once and for all.”
“My God a cleanse operation against humans?” Admiral Lord DeSoya of the still forming eight fleet said in shock, too stunned to remember to keep his mouth shut.

“No Admiral, not a cleanse against humans but against mutants, dangerous mutants that can invade the mind of a loyal citizen, mutants that can be used to power some of the most powerful weapons in the universe…….mutants that threaten the very survival of this Empire and the billions who live here.” Shieldstorm said ferociously as he stared out over the officers.

“Who is in command of the assualt your Excellency?” William heard Rukia’s voice from beside him but was so busy thinking on the gravity of the situation he wasn’t really paying attention…….until the Lord Marshall gave his answer.

“This operation is going to the 1st Fleet under Admiral Lord William Ross, his loyalty and ability to carry out this mission is unquestioned, and his fleet’s crews are some of the best in the Empire.” The Lord Marshall smiled “With his Majesty’s Permission this briefing is over, I want all of you to return to your units and tell them of this new threat, make them understand that the very survival of the Empire is at stake and that we will never bow to tyranny or threats no matter the cost.” The screen faded and three was only the silent briefing room again.

“Admiral Ross, you will be given more detailed orders in private later today, I will send forty of my best Praetorians on this mission with you, just in case you run into any of those Rangers………and to all of you godspeed and may God forgive us for what we are about to do.” The Praetor saluted the gathered officers, all of whom out of simple muscle memory and reflex also rose and returned their Praetor’s salute.

“My God Rukia, what is this universe coming to.” William whispered as he and Rukia made their way for the exit of the briefing room.
“Well…..it could be worse.” Rukia said with a dry tone, William paused a moment and stared blankly at the young Commodore, trying to figure out how it could possibly worse then the full blown war that was at the most months away.
Rukia simply smiled and kept walking before muttering “Well it could always be worse, you could have to listen to my mother give you a speech about settling down and giving her grand children before you go off to another battle, risking the whole family line and all…” She smiled again and patted William on the shoulder, as the joke dawned and the still baffled Admiral he couldn’t help but smile, he had listened to one such lecture from Rukia’s mother back when he first met her and she was still recovering in the hospital……..the two Officers walked silently down the corridor and William thought with a twinge of guilt that he was almost happy he would be too busy to see Lin before he left, he didn’t want her to see him when he was about to go out and commit mass murder on fellow human beings, mutant or not, war was one thing, the deliberate and methodical destruction of civilian HUMAN lives was another and he didn’t want to his beloved wife to see him again until after he had seen a Priest of the path and been forgiven for the sins he was about to commit on God’s creation.